


No Interviews, Please

by NutterZoi



Category: Newsflesh Trilogy - Mira Grant
Genre: Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 13:18:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13031955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NutterZoi/pseuds/NutterZoi
Summary: An e-mail exchange between Georgia Mason and Aislinn North re: continued involvement in US politics.





	No Interviews, Please

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Geekhyena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geekhyena/gifts).



Dear Ms. North etc,

It has recently come to our attention that your news team came under a similar manner of attack as our own news team during coverage of the most recent presidential election. I am sorry for your loss, but I would be very interested in comparing notes. We are compiling accounts of CDC wrongdoing with plans to publish and force those who acted to face their crimes--ideally in a court of law. Any information you'd be willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,  
Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

Kindly go fuck yourself.

Ash North

* * *

Ms. Mason,

What my colleague means to say is that we're not currently giving out interviews. We were all pleased to hear of your return and we wish you well in your investigation.

Also, we have no idea who you're talking about.

Best regards,  
Ben Ross

* * *

Dear Ms. Mason and Ben,

I can speak for myself. I meant what I said.

But fine, we're all glad you're not dead. And pretty surprised you figured out we're not either.

Ash North

* * *

Dear Ms. North and Mr. Ross,

Thank you for your responses and your well-wishes, but I'm actually much more interested in your story. After the End Times lost a number of close friends and colleagues due to the CDC's actions, and we intend to make them pay for every last one of them. As you may or may not be aware, the political climate in the United States is beginning to change with regards to the CDC, and we're hoping to take advantage of that to make the story of our losses and those that others have experienced public. The story of your news team is very similar to ours in the initial stages of this investigation, and we would like to include it in order to establish a pattern of behavior and--ideally--get justice for all of our losses. Please reconsider.

As for how we learned you were still alive--I am a _newsie_.

Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

We've run all the way to Ireland and pretended to be dead to get the hell away from your government. What makes you think we want to be dragged back in, even if it is--supposedly--to get justice for the people we've lost. It doesn't make them any less dead. All I want is to keep the people I have left safe from whatever you're about to call down on your heads. That means staying out of the crosshairs for the foreseeable future. It's not our fight anymore.

Ash North

* * *

Ms. North,

I understand your position, but I don't think you're aware of how much things have changed in the past few months. The President is directing an investigation into the many wrongdoings of the CDC and its affiliates, and he--and we--intend to make sure that they face all of their crimes. The malefactors aren't going to have the resources to retaliate. They're going to be in jail.

Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

Yes, thank you, Georgia, we've been keeping up with the news. We're in Ireland, not a fucking cave in the middle of nowhere. We're still not interested in painting targets on our backs. Been there. Done that. Lost a dear friend. You can't get everyone. You're going to miss someone, and you can't guarantee that that someone's not going to come after me and mine. I'm not losing anyone else.

Ash North

* * *

Ash,

And here I thought you were an Irwin.

Shaun

* * *

Shaun Mason,

You shut your fucking mouth, Mason. I don't have any problems playing around with my life, but I get a lot less sanguine when the people I care about are in the line of fire. Thought you of all people would know that, but maybe it was some other Shaun Mason who retired from doing anything interesting for the year after his sister died.

Ash

* * *

Ash,

Ouch. Though in my defense, the boring thing I was working on while I wasn't doing anything interesting was this story, and then keeping my team alive long enough to publish it.

But okay. I'll shut my fucking mouth.

Best,  
Shaun

* * *

Ms. North,

My brother is an asshole and an idiot, and I apologize for him, but he does have a point. We're both very aware of how serious this all is. We've lost friends and colleagues--people who were very important to us, including the original Georgia Mason. None of us has forgotten that, and we don't take any of this lightly. If we didn't think it was safe to publish without retaliation, we would be going about this entire investigation in a very different manner--specifically the manner in which Shaun conducted it in the months before my return. I certainly would not be approaching you to share your team's experiences if I believed there was a chance it would put any of you at risk again. I understand and respect your position, but please reconsider. The more people who come forward about the abuses they've suffered at the hands of the CDC et cetera, the more likely it is that they'll face the consequences of their actions, which is, I think, something we would both like to see.

And in any case, it sounds like you and yours are as difficult for them to get their hands on as Shaun and I are these days. What do you think they could do to you?

Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

I have enough imagination to fuel a lifetime of nightmares about just that question. How are _you_ sleeping these days?

Ash North

* * *

Ms. North,

Poorly. All of us who managed to survive this have more than enough of our share of nightmares. What do you say we work together to make sure they can't give more to anyone else?

Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

You don't quit, do you?

Ash North

* * *

Ms. North,

Never if I can help it, and apparently not if can't help it either. I didn't ask to be brought back, but since I'm here, I'm going to keep doing what I'm good at. This is all I know how to be.

Georgia Mason

* * *

Ms. Mason,

Fine.

You'll use our bylines.

I've discussed this with Ben and Audrey. We'll be sending our accounts along once we have them written and edited to all of our satisfaction. We're not publishing much these days, and none of it as ourselves at the moment, but I'll expect links back to us once we do get things up and running again. We've been out of it for a while, but I think we all know how long something like that can last for people like us.

Make the bastards pay.

Ash North

* * *

Ms. North,

Agreed.

Georgia Mason

**Author's Note:**

> When I got the prompt for these two characters together, I had a moment (very brief) of "How...?" And then this hit me and it felt so _obvious_ that practically wrote itself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Thanks to my beta readers for the hand-holding and encouragement. You know who you are.


End file.
